Krugman: Kids Will Pay the Price for Spending Cuts

Posted on Feb 28, 2011

According to New York Times econo-whiz Paul Krugman, all this emphasis on austerity will not be good for posterity. In his latest column, Krugman slams the GOP for claiming to be all about the kids while stacking the deck against them with “draconian” budget cuts. —KA

The New York Times:

Now, politicians—and especially, in my experience, conservative politicians—always claim to be deeply concerned about the nation’s children. Back during the 2000 campaign, then-candidate George W. Bush, touting the “Texas miracle” of dramatically lower dropout rates, declared that he wanted to be the “education president.” Today, advocates of big spending cuts often claim that their greatest concern is the burden of debt our children will face.

In practice, however, when advocates of lower spending get a chance to put their ideas into practice, the burden always seems to fall disproportionately on those very children they claim to hold so dear.

Consider, as a case in point, what’s happening in Texas, which more and more seems to be where America’s political future happens first.